Gregoire signs tougher DUI law

Updated 9:00 pm, Wednesday, March 15, 2006

OLYMPIA -- Gov. Christine Gregoire signed a bundle of bills into law Wednesday, including a long-standing effort to toughen punishment for repeat drunken drivers.

The measure would make a fifth DUI conviction in 10 years a felony. A DUI charge would also be a felony for drivers with previous convictions for vehicular assault or vehicular homicide while impaired.

"This is a very important public safety bill to get incorrigible drunken drivers off our roads," Gregoire said before signing the measure.

Drunken driving previously was considered a gross misdemeanor in Washington state, meaning the maximum prison term was one year unless other factors, such as injury or death, resulted in additional charges.

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When the new law takes effect, drivers who are convicted of the felony DUI could face a maximum prison term of five years. A legislative analysis showed the typical sentence likely would be about two years.

Rep. John Ahern, R-Spokane, pushed the bill for several years before seeing it gain legislative approval earlier this month.

"We had to really work that thing hard," Ahern said after the bill-signing ceremony at Gregoire's office.

The new law does not take effect until July 2007, an adjustment that allowed legislators to pass the bill without racking up costs for increased prison sentences in the current budget.

Ahern said getting the measure passed was worth the delay. He said various lawmakers had been working on the issue for about 25 years.

"It takes that long to knock some sense into politicians' heads," Ahern said with a chuckle.

Gregoire has a 20-day post-session window to act on bills that cleared their final hurdles near the Legislature's March 8 adjournment.

The Democratic governor now has fewer than 300 measures to sign or reject, aides said Wednesday.

She has not yet vetoed any bills, but Gregoire has received requests to wholly or partially scrap more than 30 measures, said Marty Brown, legislative director.

Among the 28 additional bills Gregoire signed into law Wednesday were:

A measure that aims to drive down textbook costs for students at the state's colleges and universities. Part of the new rule pushes professors to work with suppliers to keep costs down.

A bill that exempts from public disclosure laws certain information supplied for government livestock identification databases meant to track disease. Details of completed state animal health investigations still could be released publicly.